Help with Room Acoustic Treatments

[studiodrum]

Hey Guys,
I need some help in trying to prepare a room to record some demo material. . .The room in question, is 40' x 15' with 7.5' ceilings.

I know its a really awkward, and funky shaped room, But I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, on what I can do, or what materials I might buy to at least TRY and make the room, somewhat usable for recording. . .

The budget in minimal, . .of course. . and remember its only demos. But, I still would like to know what I can do, to help the room.

So, any help you can offer, would be great! Thanks

[xfinsterx]

ive done drums in a room like that.
your dry sound is gonna be pretty brutal.
After tracking, i added a light plate reverb to the snare and a bit to the toms too.
every thing else just sorta fell into place after i tweaked the knobs and listened enough.

REVERB TO THE RESCUE!!

[studiodrum]

Originally Posted by xfinsterx

ive done drums in a room like that.
your dry sound is gonna be pretty brutal.

Hey xfin, . . . So, its a dry sound that I'm going to encounter with this type of long, narrow, and low room? hmmmm,. interesting

Its funny, that you tracked drums in a room similar to that, since most of our recordings are going to be 'drum' rhythm tracks, . .with the bass going direct. So, I'm concerned that the sound of the drums are going to be the most effected by the room. . .

[knightfly]

That room will have a TON of modal problems at or near typical drum resonances - can you be more exact as to budget, and can you/would you do any self-built free-standing (take it with you) acoustic treatments? These could be used later in nearly ANY room, but will require a few tools and a bit of time/effort... Steve

[Ethan Winer]

SD,

> I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, on what I can do, or what materials I might buy to at least TRY and make the room, somewhat usable for recording <

For a good overview of what's needed see the Acoustics FAQ, second in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

Then please feel free to follow up with any questions.

--Ethan

[studiodrum]

Originally Posted by knightfly

That room will have a TON of modal problems at or near typical drum resonances - can you be more exact as to budget,

Hey Steve,
I would need to try to keep the budget under $500.

Originally Posted by knightfly

and can you/would you do any self-built free-standing (take it with you) acoustic treatments? These could be used later in nearly ANY room, but will require a few tools and a bit of time/effort... Steve

by 'self-built free standing scoustic tratments' Do you mean like 'Bass Traps' and 'Gobos' surrounding the drums?


Also, thanks for the articles Natahan, I'm sure I will get back to you with more questions. . . ! Thanks guys/

[knightfly]

Your budget is within reason, and I meant bass traps and other broad-band absorption units, something like these -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm

I can help you work out a couple of the slat absorbers tuned to the main problem ranges of drums, which also coincide with your present room modes (but which would help ANY room's drum sound) - this part requires fairly accurate carpentry, but isn't really hard (just a bit time-consuming)

Do you need to also mix in this room, or just record? Steve